John Upchurch
The Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) presented its third annual conference in Ft. Lauderdale earlier this month. Larry Watson and Michael Orfinger joined me at the conference, our first since becoming credentialed by the group as Certified E-Discovery Specialists (CEDS) following a rigorous course of study and an examination.
A central theme this year was the emerging area of computer assisted review, or "CAR" (sometimes called technology assisted review or "TAR"), using a technique known as predictive coding. This method enables the software to read a small sample of appropriately identified relevant documents selected by trained reviewers, out of perhaps a set of 2,500 documents, create a sophisticated algorithm from that exercise and then apply it to a massive number of documents, yielding a relevancy rate in selected documents greatly exceeding that produced by an old-fashioned linear, document-by-document review. And all at tremendous savings in terms of time and manpower in larger, document intensive cases.
Exhibitors had an interactive demonstration area for direct, hands on-sampling of the predictive coding software. This was worth the trip alone; a glimpse into what will become commonplace once attorneys and judges become aware of the power imbedded in tools that are now readily available.
Next post: Why e-discovery will emerge as a major new area of focus in the litigation space.
